Cavalry Charge!

Whoa, partner! I am going to tell you about something cool that animals like me did in wars long ago. Horses were used in cavalry units, where soldiers fought on horseback. War horses have been used for thousands of years, like when knights used to ride us in the Middle Ages! My ancestor Bonfire knew a couple of cavalry horses during the First World War. They told him that fighting on horseback on the Western Front was very difficult because the enemy had deep trenches, machine guns, tangles of barbed wire and poison gas. Dr. McCrae used to tell Bonfire what it was like in the South African War back in 1900. Canadian cavalry forces had been important in the wide-open spaces over there.

Imagine how courageous a horse would have to be to charge through the gunfire and explosions of a battle, with a soldier on his back shooting or swinging a sword!

Furry Friends